Te Kooti's War

Te Kooti's War
Part of New Zealand Wars
Purported drawing of Te Kooti published 1869 (top); two of his banners (bottom)
Date July 1868 – May 1872 Location East Coast and central North Island, New Zealand
Belligerents
United Kingdom: Colony of New Zealand  Ngāti Porou  Ngāti Kahungunu	Ringatū adherents  Pai Mārire adherents Ngāi Tūhoe  Ngāti Hineuru  Rongowhakaata
Commanders and leaders
George Whitmore  Thomas McDonnell  Te Keepa  Ropata Wahawaha  William Mair  Hotene Porourangi  Gilbert Mair  Henare Tomoana  Renata Kawepo	Te Kooti  Te Rangitahau

Te Kooti's War was among the last of the New Zealand Wars, the series of 19th-century conflicts in New Zealand between the Māori and the colonising European settlers. It was fought in the East Coast region and across the heavily forested central North Island and Bay of Plenty from 1868 to 1872, between government military forces and followers of spiritual leader Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki.

The conflict was sparked by Te Kooti's return to the East Coast after two years of internment on the Chatham Islands, from where he had escaped with almost 200 Māori prisoners of war and their families. Te Kooti desired to be left in peace but two weeks after their return to the mainland, members of his party found themselves being pursued by a force of militia, government troops and Māori volunteers. Te Kooti's force routed them in an ambush, seizing arms, ammunition, food and horses. The engagement was the first in what became a four-year guerrilla war, involving more than 30 expeditions by colonial and Māori troops against Te Kooti's dwindling number of warriors. Although initially fighting defensively against pursuing government forces, Te Kooti went on the offensive from November 1868, starting with a raid on Poverty Bay, in which selected European settlers, their families, and Māori opponents were murdered. The attack prompted another pursuit by government forces, one that included the siege at Ngatapa from which Te Kooti escaped but which resulted in the capture and execution of over 100 of his followers.

Te Kooti gained refuge with Tūhoe tribes, which consequently suffered a series of damaging raids in which crops and villages were destroyed, as other Māori iwi were lured by the promise of a £5000 reward for Te Kooti's capture. Te Kooti was finally granted sanctuary by the Māori king in 1872 and moved to the King Country, where he continued to develop rituals, texts and prayers of his Ringatū faith. He was formally pardoned by the government in February 1883 and died in 1893.

In modern times, much of the actions that occurred during Te Kooti's War, particularly in the early stages of the conflict, have been condemned as an abuse of law and human rights.